The award recipients included students from 50 Nepali districts, pursuing undergraduate courses in MBBS, BDS, BE, BSc, BBA and BCom across various Nepali institutions, locally.

The award recipients included 45 percent of girls and 8 percent of differently-abled students, the Indian Embassy said in an official release.

Speaking on the occasion, Indian Ambassador to Nepal Manjeev Singh Puri congratulated the students and urged them to focus on socio-economic development of Nepal and areas that boost Indo-Nepal relations.

Indo-Nepal Golden Jubilee Scholarship Scheme

Indian Government introduced this scheme in 2002 marking the 50 years of India-Nepal Economic Cooperation, and as a mark of India’s support to human resources and socio-economic development of Nepal.

From 50 at the start, the number of Nepali award recipients increased to around 100 students by and continued to remain 200 since 2012.

Under the scheme, MBBS/BDS student receives NPR 4000/- per month for five years, while a BE student will get NPR 4000/- per month for four years and a students of other undergraduate courses will receive NPR 3000/- per month for three years.

Till date, the scheme has benefited around 2,350 students from 77 Nepali districts, the Embassy said in its release.

Besides, the Indian Government also provides around 3000 scholarships to aspiring students in various other fields such as medical, veterinary sciences, science, agriculture, dental science, pharmacology, arts, commerce, engineering, computer science and nursing across various Nepali institutions.

Women in Higher Education On Rise in Nepal

Meanwhile, the number of women students in higher education are growing as a result of rise in enrolment of girls in schools, a senior Nepali official said on March 12, 2019.

Speaking at the ongoing 63^rd Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW-63) of UN, president of Women and Social Committee of Nepal Niru Devi Pal recalled Nepal’s achievements in advancement of women rights through the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action of 1995, among other initiatives.

She emphasized that the girl empowerment made by Nepal has changed the dynamics of human resources in Nepali public sector, placing women in key decision-making positions.

Stating that many Nepali women have moved away from traditional practices, Devi said that there has been a gradual progress in women presence across politics, education, media, health, among other sectors.

She also highlighted on the country’s gender-responsive budgets adoption of gender-responsive monitoring and evaluation mechanisms.

In Conclusion

Hope more such meritorious programs by government bodies and local community groups will further the development of Nepali education sector, contributing to skill development.

Stay tuned for more interesting updates about Nepal and Nepalis!

The post Indian Embassy Honors Nepali Merit Students, Girl Students on Rise in Nepal appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

Yes, you read right!

The film was a big hit with NPR 190 million in collections. It has grown in popularity majorly for its critique portrayal of Nepali education sector and could successfully grab the attention of around 1.2 million audience.

Considering its significance to the topic, the film was screened at the educational conference that saw educationists and teachers from the entire South Asian region.

The screening began with an introductory brief by Chhakka Panja 3 Director Deepa Shree Niraula, who felt the film was successful for its social critique on Nepal’s education system in a fun way.

Nepali Educationist Dhananjaya Acharya Nepal lauded the film saying, it “portrays a realistic picture of Nepal’s education system,” and appreciated it for raising key issues of Nepali education sector that even Nepali media missed out over time.

“Ground reality of the education system, not just of Nepal but of India as well, and in fact, the situation is same in all of South Asia. It’s an excellent film and also a useful one. It’s bound to take a good market,” said Indian educationist Sharad Chandra Behar.

Behar went a step ahead and called on the Chhakka Panja 3 team to dub that in Hindi and bring it to Indian cinema as well.

“Dharam karam bhi ho gaya, aur daam bhi aagaya” (meaning we addressed a social problem and we also made money), said Deepak Raj Giri, actor and one of the producers of Chhakka Panja 3. This dialogue part of the film created huge laughter among the audience!

The event also saw from serious critiques for the movie, where some of the audience termed it not serious and dramatic in presenting the solution to the problems raised.

“While the film shows a drastic improvement in the education standards of the school [around which the film revolves], it doesn’t show how it achieved the feat,” adds Behar.

Check out our latest entertainment news related to Nepali songs, films and more!

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The post ‘Nepali Chhakka Panja 3 Highlights Gaps in South Asia Education’ appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

One of the world’s largest university ranking agencies, the United Kingdom-based Times Higher Education-World University Rankings (WUR) said this in its latest announcement.

“The criteria for selection are so tough that many universities don’t even get through the selection process. We met the criteria. This is an achievement for us,” said Tirtha Raj Khaniya, TU Vice-chancellor.

This is the first-ever participation of TU in the THE-WUR global ranking and Khaniya represented the university in the world ranking program held in Singapore during September 25-27, 2018.

The selection process was based on five criteria, which include teaching, research, citation influence, international outlook and industrial income. All these five criteria are again sub-divided into dozens of sub-groups.

According to Executive Director at TU Planning Directorate Hridish Kumar Pokhrel, the university scored 30 per cent in the first three groups, and 5.7 per cent in international outlook & 2.5 in industrial outcome criteria.

“It seems we can upgrade our ranking by forging collaboration with foreign universities and attracting international students” says Pokhrel.

Elated at the news, Khaniya further said, “We had been underestimating our teaching methods and overall results. With this upgraded ranking, we are excited that research conducted by our scholars will also gain international recognition.”

Prior to this, the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities or Ranking Web of Universities featured TU at 4,241th position in 2015 and 3,895^th in 2017, respectively.

A Hope Amid Declining Trend
This update comes as an encouraging news for TU, which has been facing a severe decline in the number of student enrolments over the last four years.

While a total of 604,437 students were studying in TU & its affiliated colleges in 2014, the number has come down drastically to 367,427 by 2018.

By gender, while the number of male students from 334,911 in 2014 to 167,857 by 2017, the female students in the university & is affiliated colleges also saw a 25 per cent drop in the last four years.

Let’s see what impact the latest ranking will have on the University’s progress!

The post Nepal’s TU Among World’s Top 1000 Varsities appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

Continuing its six-year-long journey, the Edu Con 2018 is coming up with its fifth edition bringing together different educational opportunities for the country’s students aspiring to pursue further studies.

The three-day event will provide needed career counselling to the students helping them find their choices from the reputed local and international colleges and universities.

According to the organizers, the event is welcoming representatives of universities and colleges from various countries such as Australia, United States, India, and China, including Nepal, who will be exhibiting their respective capabilities.

The event will also feature special presentations by people from different backgrounds on wide range of subjects.

We have a very good experience in similar education fairs organized in the past. That has prompted us to continue this partnership, says Suman Shrestha, one of the event sponsors and also the Marketing Head at The British College.

According to Ramesh Joshi, Chair of one of the event partners Rise Events, nearly 350 scholarships will be awarded to the visiting students as part of the fair.

Fairs of this kind sound significant to Nepali students in view of the increasing number of Nepali students willing to pursue career opportunities in foreign destinations.

Also Read: Nepali Students Across Foreign Varsities on Rise

The post Edu Con Fair 2018 For Aspiring Nepali Students appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

The master’s degree program, a joint initiative of KU and the Institute for Integrated Development Studies in Dhulikhel, will be incorporated in humanities, management and law departments, effective from 2019. 

Speaking at the launch event, experts from various backgrounds expressed their opinions on the proposed program. 

In his address, Dr Mohan Man Sainju, former Vice-chairman of Nepal Planning Commission (NPC), said the local resources should be used accordingly and courses of this kind engage youth in policy making. 

Meanwhile, former Health Minister Gagan Thapa said there has been a need for interdisciplinary approach in social sciences and hoped that the program would fill the existing gaps and produce better policy makers to the nation.   

The local governments are in dire need of manpower with knowledge of public policy making. Local bodies should encourage their employees to study public policy, says Gagan Thapa. 

Lauding the initiative, the US Ambassador to Nepal Alaina B Teplitz also opined that the initiative would improve public policy dialogue in the country.  

 “Good public policy helps leaders to take better decisions,” she said, adding improving governance would is also an art that determines the country’s future. 

The post Nepal Welcomes its First Academic Course on Public Policy appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

Interview by Sai Nikesh D

Nepal has come a long way in development. As a nation sharing borders with the world’s two major economies, Nepal has been striving to become a developing country and grow further to achieve the developed country status.  As a process, the Government of Nepal has been actively participating in various global and local level platforms promoting country’s strengths and potential to development, and is sincerely aiming to see the benefits as part of its UN 2030 Agenda.

Continuing with a wide coverage on Nepal and its developments over a period, Nepali Sansar, as a Nepal-focused media house, got a chance to get in touch with Dr.Ek Raj Ojha, Senior Sustainable Development Consultant from Nepal, for a better understanding of the country’s progress towards its set goals.

Dr. Ojha, with his sound expertise in working with national and international level organizations like ADB, UN and government departments in sustainable development and planning, policy framework, among other key aspects of development and planning, shared a valuable information in this regard, helping us portray a complete picture of Nepal and its developmental path over a period and towards future.

Following are a few excerpts of Nepali Sansar Bureau’s detailed interaction with Dr. Ojha:

The post Dr Ek Raj Ojha appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

The three agreements are focused on investment in livestock innovation, post-earthquake housing reconstruction, technical education and vocational training in Nepal.

“These three agreements are important for Nepal because they boost job creation, including for many women, by investing more money in the country’s successful post-earthquake housing reconstruction as well as providing resources for the livestock sector and for youth skills training,” says Qimiao Fan, World Bank Country Director for Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan.

For Earthquake Reconstruction Project

Under the first agreement, USD 300 million will be dedicated for the Earthquake Housing Reconstruction Project as an addition to USD 200 million credit approved in 2015 post the earthquake.

With this, a preliminary estimate of 500,000 households in 2015 has been increased to 650,000 households.

For Livestock Development

The second finance of USD 80 million will address the Livestock Sector Innovation Project while supporting the government’s objectives towards the Agriculture Development Strategy and livestock development for sustained agriculture, food security, poverty reduction and economic growth.

The investment on livestock is expected to benefit nearly 200,000 livestock producers across 271 municipalities of Nepal.

For Education and Training

The third agreement involving a credit of USD 60 million will finance the second phase of Nepal’s Enhanced Vocational Education and Training Project.

This training program aims at providing training large number of youth who lack necessary skill set. This program aims to fill the gaps that Nepali workers are facing in the labor market, both locally and globally.

The second phase of the project will focus on improving access to market-relevant training programs and strengthen the delivery of Technical Education and Vocational Training (TEVT).

Nepal Gets Allocated Resources

Speaking on the occasion, Fan informed that Nepal has fully received its allocated resources from the World Bank over the previous three-year cycle, including USD 900 million support and an additional USD 300 million from the Bank’s Crisis Response Window.

He further said that Nepal will be receiving an additional benefit with a significant rise in resource allocation to about USD 1.4 billion in the current three-year cycle that began in July 2017.

Fan also informed that the Bank is currently preparing a new Country Partnership Framework for the next four-year cycle beginning in July 2018.

The three agreements were signed between Nepal Finance Secretary Shankar Prasad Adhikari and Fan in the presence of Nepal Finance Minister Gyanendra Bahadur Karki and World Bank Vice-President for South Asia Annette Dixon. Other government officials were also present at the ceremony.

The post World Bank Agreements To Aid Nepal in Key Sectors appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

These professional programs will be offered in collaboration with a Chinese university and an official agreement in this regard is expected to be signed in a couple of days.

Academicians lauded Nepal’s move at a recently-held three-day workshop jointly organized by Nepal’s Tribhuvan University (TU) and China’s Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics in Kathmandu.

They expressed hope that this facility would encourage Nepali students to pursue careers in the aforementioned engineering fields.

“We are very happy to introduce this important engineering program, which will be completely new to Nepali students. We believe such international collaboration can produce the capable human resources,” says TU Vice Chancellor Professor Tirtha Raj Khaniya.

Meanwhile, Professor Tri Ratna Bajracharya, Dean at the Institute of Engineering (IoE) said, “Since Nepal is a mountainous country where aviation is the most sought transport, this program will be very suitable for Nepali students.”

Bajracharya opined that these courses would fill the gaps in manpower requirement and produce globally-competitive and efficient professionals.

TU, which produces around 4,000 engineers annually, has signed MoU with 18 Chinese universities for courses in civil engineering, business and economics, medicine, among others.

TU’s IoE will begin the aeronautics and astronautics engineering courses for Bachelors-level students in the first phase, informed the officials.

The post Nepal Announces Courses in Aeronautics and Astronautics appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

In the light of the flood situation in Nepal, the Office of UN Resident Coordinator Nepal has released a report titled ‘Flooding Response Plan (August 2017-February 2018)’, wherein, it sought global attention for supporting flood victims.

Under the plan, the Office aims at offering humanitarian assistance to around 1.7 million victims hit by the recent floods across 35 districts of the country.

As part of relief measures, the Office informed that the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) is seeking USD 41.4 million to provide immediate humanitarian assistance to support the flood victims over the coming six months, under various sectors including Health, Nutrition, Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), Food Security, Protection, Shelter, Livelihood, Education and Early Recovery.

Sector-wise Funding Requirements

• USD 8 million assistance separately for WASH (targeting 800,000 people across 13 districts) & Nutrition (to cover 1 million people across 18 districts) and USD 3 million aid for Education sector (to cover 79,000 children and 1,975 teachers) from UNICEF
• USD 6.85 million Food Aid from World Food Programme (WFP) targeting 300,000 people across 10 districts
• USD 4.5 million from Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) targeting 300,000 people across 10 districts
• USD 4.12 million from the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) to support 300,000 population across 5 districts
• USD 3.4 million Early Recovery assistance from United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) targeting 1.7 million across 10 districts
• USD 1.78 million Health assistance from WHO targeting 1.7 million population across 30 flood-hit districts
• USD 900,000 Protection assistance from UNFPA targeting 200,000 people across 11 districts
• USD 750,000 assistance from International Organization for Migration (IOM) for Camp Coordination and Camp Management (CCCM) targeting 300,000 population across 7 districts
• USD 100,000 from United Nations Resident Coordinator’s Office to support Humanitarian agencies and the Government of Nepal targeting 35 affected districts

Initial Rapid Assessment of Flood Situation

The Office, in its Initial Rapid Assessment (IRA) conducted across 28 districts, concluded that 1.7 million population was affected by the flooding in Nepal, with almost 65,000 houses destroyed, 460,000 people displaced, an estimated 19,000 people currently residing in informal displacements sites including schools and some 40 communities remaining inaccessible.

The recent floods have badly hit the country’s critical infrastructure, said the report, informing that around 80 schools across 28 districts (710 damaged) and 10 health posts (64 partially damaged) were destroyed. Around 64,000 hectares of standing crops have also been destroyed in the 10 worst-affected districts of the country.

According to the report, this situation will affect communities’ livelihood and compromise food security, as food stocks have also been destroyed.

In terms of public health, the report informed that nutrition needs have increased since the onset of flooding with the average rate of global acute malnutrition (GAM) now beyond critical levels.

This situation will likely deteriorate further amongst children under five and pregnant and breastfeeding women without emergency measures, it added.

According to the report, the governmental efforts including deployment of 27,000 security personnel and civil servants for measures and providing more than USD 11.3 million fund assistance could not completely suffice the humanitarian needs caused by the crisis.

The post #NepalFloods2017: UN Nepal Releases Response Plan, Seeks USD 41 Million Immediate Grant appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

As part of the deal, Japanese Government will be offering a grant of Rs 280 million to the School Sector Development Program (SSDP) of Nepal.

An agreement in this regard was signed in a meeting between the Secretary at the Ministry of Finance Shanta Raj Subedi and Japanese Ambassador to Nepal Masashi Ogawa, held at the Ministry of Finance in Kathmandu, yesterday.

Joint Secretary Baikuntha Aryal and Chief Representative of JICA Nepal Jun Sakuma exchanged a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), according to a press release issued by the Ministry of Finance.

SSDP, being implemented by the Department of Education, is a continuation of the School Sector Reform Program (SSRP) that aims to improve the quality and efficiency of basic and secondary education of Nepal.

Earlier in the month, the United States agency USAID had also revealed its initiative towards the development of the Nepali education sector.

USAID, citing its education strategy and local assessments, pointed out at gaps in the education system of Nepal, especially in the early grade reading. In this regard, it urged the Government of Nepal to include early grade reading in its education reform agenda.

Stating that it found extremely-low reading scores in Nepal despite high primary school enrolment, USAID said it would take a leading role in advocating for early grade reading to be on Nepal Government’s national education reform agenda.

Related Education Article:

• Education Loan in Nepal – Checklist and Procedure

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